英语专业四级听力50篇

英语专业四级听力

50

篇

and Country Life in England

There is a big difference between town life and country life in England.

In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time

you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you

want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.

In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you

have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name

or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is

because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If

you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like

a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own.

They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or

even months.

2.A Change in Women’s Life

The important change in women’s life

-pattern has only recently begun to

have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago

most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a

full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once

and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many

girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry

younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before

their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full- time or

part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage,

with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions

of family life and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in

providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and

interests of each of them.

3.A Popular Pastime of the English People

One of the best means of understanding the people of any nation is

watching what the do with their non- working time.

Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially

flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see

gardens all they way along the railway lines. There are flowers at the

airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the

roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully kept

flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes

and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them.

But what the English enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is

impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in

a

pot will do. Looking at each other’s gardens is a popular pastime with

the English.

Useful Words and Expressions:

1. window box:

窗台上的花盆箱

e

消遣，娱乐

Swimming is my favorite pastime.

h and American Police Officers

Real policemen, both in Britain and the U.S., hardly recognize any

common points between their lives and what they se on TV

—

if they ever

get home in time.

Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not

think much of them much of them.

The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law. Most

of what he learns is the law. He has to know actually what actions are

against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has

to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it

into practice on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street

after someone he wants to talk to.

Little of his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely

facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging

millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary

people who are guilty--- or not of stupid, unimportant crimes.

Useful Words and Expressions:

1. think much of

重视，尊重

2. in court

在法庭上

3. criminal

罪犯，犯罪者

4. guilty

犯罪的，有罪的

Space

How much living space does a person need? What happens when his

space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to

determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies

have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats

have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their

young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their

behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and

eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded

they are, and more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other.

Thus, for rats, populations and violence are directly related. Is this a

natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only

satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting

questions.

6 The United Nations

In 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was

called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.

There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the

General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is

represented and has an equal vote.

The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of

just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States,

Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected

every two years by the General Assembly.

The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If

necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little

wars before they turn into big ones.

It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this

is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars.

Useful Words and Expressions:

1. representative

代表

2. General Assembly

联合国大会

3. permanent

永久的，持久的

4. Security Council

联合国安全理事会

7 Plastic

We use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put our garbage in plastic

bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink

from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles!

Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things

together. We call it a produced or manufactured material. Plastic was first

made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was

soft and burned easily.

The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. Most clear plastic

starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as

natural gas.

Over the years, hundreds of different plastics have been developed. Some

are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some

are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists

continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use

them!

8 Display of Goods

Are supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more?

Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This

gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic

foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other.

They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other

attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are

encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.

Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While

parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in

the trolley.

More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product than

from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than

when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few

products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those

products that are there.

Useful Words and Expressions:

1. aisle

走廊，过道

2. trolley

手推车

3. checkout

收款台

9 Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory

that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His

parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the re

ligion’s rules.

Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow

to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old,

his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he

discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same

direction

—

to be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the

needle to move. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were

difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking

about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind

things.

Useful expressions and words:

1. device

装置，设备

leave to one’s own devices

听 任某人自行其是，允许某人按自己的意

愿做事

She left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon.

她允许孩子在下午有一个小时的自由支配时间。

2. compass

指南针

beyond one’s compass

某人力所不及

catch/fetch/take a compass

兜圈子，绕道，拐弯抹角

keep sth within compass

把某种事物限制在适当的范围内

speak within compass

谨慎小心地说

within sb’s compass

某人力所能及的